Drone attack on two ships in Black Sea off Bulgaria, sailors missing

Two commercial ships were subjected to a drone attack on Tuesday in Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone in the Black Sea, resulting in the sinking of one vessel, according to the government, which called for an emergency meeting to discuss the matter.

Before the government meeting, Prime Minister Rumen Radev condemned the attack, describing it as "absolutely unacceptable" and affirming that it was a "gross violation of maritime law and, generally, navigation rules."

Roman Nikolov, director of the Maritime Rescue Coordination Center in Varna, stated in remarks carried by public radio "BNR," that one of the ships sank and its crew went missing, while the crew of the second ship was rescued.

While Radev confirmed that crew members remain missing, public radio reported that the rescue operation is still underway approximately 80 nautical miles east of the coastal town of Byala.

According to the specialized website "Maritime.bg," a Togo-flagged ship suffered severe damage before sinking. It noted that a fire broke out on another Palau-flagged vessel, whose 18 crew members were evacuated by a Bulgarian ferry.

This attack comes the day after another targeted the Turkish cargo ship "Rojad Mamadov" in Romania's exclusive economic zone, killing two crew members and rescuing eleven others. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of striking the ship with two drones, leading to its sinking.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry press office told RIA Novosti that the attack killed the Azerbaijani captain Rojad Mammadov and left another Azerbaijani citizen missing.

Tuesday's incident is the first of its kind in Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone in the Black Sea.

Bulgarian public radio indicated that two crew members were seriously injured, one suffering from burns and the other from a head injury, while the remaining 16 individuals were unharmed.

- Drone in northeast country -

In August, a drone exploded in the northeast of the country, near the Romanian border and close to a gas pipeline.

Sofia said the aircraft might have been of a type used by Ukrainian forces, while Kyiv confirmed that no drone was deliberately directed toward Bulgaria.

In recent months, drones have been increasingly spotted in the Black Sea, particularly in Romanian, Bulgarian, and Turkish waters.

In Bulgaria, approximately 30 objects or fragments linked to drones were found or destroyed between June and early September, according to Defense Ministry reports.

Across the Black Sea, AMBRI, a company specializing in maritime risk assessment, recorded 56 sightings of unexploded ordnance and drones between March and August, compared to 26 sightings in the previous six months.

At least a third of these drones carried explosives. AMBRI noted that aerial and naval drones now pose a greater threat to navigation than mines.